Confusingly Perfect
by Heat
Summary: It had all started as a standard trip to Vampire Castle. The party was taking a break when the... Incident occurred. This incident caused major changes. Can the four weather through this trial and continue their quest? Bravely Default and all of its characters belong to Square Enix and respective parties. I own nothing, cover image included. Rated T for blood.


Chapter One:

_Magnus Bat:_ _Its Ultrasonic Wave ability may inflict __Confuse __on all allies, posing a serious danger to the party. Defeating them quickly with__Wind__-elemental attacks or __bows __should remove their threat._

The Incident at Vampire Castle

"Black… BANE!" Tiz roared as he swung his blade two-handed, sending a wave of black energy crashing into a group of Cerberus. Growling, one got back up and pounced at him.

"Oh no, you don't!" Edea lunged in front of Tiz, bashing the hound back with one of her shields. The hound opened its jaws, flames sparking out of the open maw. Eyes widening, Edea pounded her foot on the ground. "Rampart!" The flamethrower that ensued harmlessly fizzled against the green, honeycomb-like energy barrier.

"This is it!" Ringabel rushed forward, the katanas in his hands becoming black blurs. They slashed against the hound, who whimpered once before falling over and expiring.

"Whew, that was a close one," Tiz sighed as he sat on the ground. "Agnes, could you..?" He gestured at a bite wound on his leg.

"Of course I can. Curaga!" Agnes' hands glowed white as she sat by Tiz, healing him. Tiz felt his face grow hot at being so close to Agnes, and quickly looked away to make sure she wouldn't notice. Edea, however, did notice, and poked Ringabel in the shoulder, pointing at Tiz and snickering. Tiz turned even redder, and when Ringabel wiggled his eyebrows at him, the poor shepherd mentally groaned and looked up in exasperation. He then noticed that a Magnus Bat was hanging on the ceiling.

Tiz and the bat both froze when their eyes met. A single moment passed, and then the bat screeched, flying towards him. An all-too familiar twitching in its ears told him what was coming next. "Agnes, look out!" He threw her towards Edea and Ringabel, away from the ultrasonic blast the bat produced. At first, Tiz was in pain, but then rather suddenly, it faded, and the world… Changed for Tiz. The gloomy scenery of the castle turned cheery; sunshine surrounded him in a field of flowers.

"Woah! A double rainbow!" Tiz started to skip around, enjoying the smell of many flowers and fruit trees. The Magnus Bat from earlier flew around his head, screeching loudly. "Ha, ha, silly bat. Here, have a lollipop!" Tiz pulled one out of seemingly nowhere and gave it to the bat, and it flew away. "Huh, where did that come from?" Tiz shrugged, and continued skipping around in a field of beauty. Why question good fortune?

The Magnus Bat, or rather, the pieces of the Magnus Bat, lay on the floor, blood spurting from the two halves of its body. Tiz was cheerfully humming and skipping around, his confused state completely overtaking him and making him oblivious to the world around him. The blood splattering his face, clothes, and sword, combined with his blank smile and dull eyes all gave the appearance of a maniac. Ringabel cautiously approached him. "Tiz, is everything alright?"

"Ringabel, I think he's confused. Esuna!" Agnes fired a wave of white from her staff. Tiz simply dodged, his constant skipping interfering with Agnes' attempts to rid him of the irritating status condition. "Tiz, please stand still!'

"Wheeee!" What Tiz saw was Agnes blowing bubbles at him, and thinking it was a game, Tiz dodged each "bubble" easily. "I like this game!" Ringabel attempted to sneak up behind him and grab him, but Ringabel wasn't expecting Tiz to belt out a "playful punch" to his shoulder. Tiz laughed as Ringabel tumbled backwards. "Isn't this fun?"

"Owww!" Ringabel yelled as he flew back from the air-splitting punch Tiz had launched at his shoulder. "How did he notice me?" Ringabel flopped backwards on the castle floor, clutching his shoulder. Edea laughed.

"Aw, is baby Ringabel going to cry?" Edea sneered. "Alright, my turn!" Edea ran up behind Tiz grabbed him forcibly by the arms, making him stand still. Tiz began to violently thrash, struggling to break free, but could not break the female Templar's iron grip. Abruptly Tiz stopped fighting, flopping over in her arms. Curiously, the three Warriors of Light stared at Tiz's limp form, wonder why he had stopped.

In Tizland, Tiz was grinning deviously. _I know! I'll play a trick on her! Girls hate boy germs, the village girls would always say. It'll teach her for being mean to me._ Tiz waited patiently for Edea to loosen her grip on him.

"Huh, maybe the confusion wore off." Edea relaxed her grip, and immediately, Tiz turned around, catching all three off-guard.

"Here's my revengggeeee!"

"Wha-?" Tiz planted a single kiss straight on Edea's lips. She froze, turning white. Edea let go of Tiz, who fell, landing on his head, hard. A large _crack!_ was rang throughout the halls.

"Ow!" Tiz looked up from the floor rubbing his head. Agnes and Ringabel were both staring at Tiz with looks that combined worry and caution. "What happened?"

"Well… he seems normal enough now. A Magnus Bat got you with its ultrasonic sound wave, and you got confused. Again," Ringabel said, reaching out with his hand towards Tiz. Taking the hand, Tiz groaned, and asked,

"How bad was it this time?"

Agnes was the one to answer as Ringabel pulled Tiz up, who was feeling a bit woozy. "Well you started off by cutting the bat in half rather violently, and followed up by hitting Ringabel in the shoulder and launching him back a yard…"

"Ugh, there's going to be a bruise on my beautiful skin tomorrow…" Ringabel whined, rubbing his shoulder. Tiz rubbed the back of his neck, saying,

"Sorry, Ringabel. Did I do anything else?" Tiz asked.

"Well…" Agnes cheeks colored, as if she was about to say something scandalous. "You kissed Edea, straight on the lips."

"Oh I see, I'm so s- WHAT?" Tiz yelled, a look of total horror crossing his face. Paling, Tiz turned to Ringabel, who nodded rather solemnly. Slowly, Tiz turned around, thoughts of what Edea was going to do to him filling his head, ranging from being strangled to a senseless beating to castration. Expecting a face full of rage, the three turned and looked at Edea, who had not said a word through the entire exchange.

_Poor Tiz is going to get it now_… Ringabel winced, remembering the punches Edea had swung at him previously for being too forward. He patted Tiz on the shoulder, and sincerely hoped that the boy would to survive the day with everything intact.

_I hope Edea isn't too upset at Tiz. After all, it's not like it's his fault…_ Agnes thought of previous instances of Edea's short temper, and shook her head. _It's a good thing I know white magic…_

The group, however, did not see what they expected to see. Instead of a rage-filled face full of unbridled urges of vengeance, Edea was doing something alien. Something completely unexpected, foreign to the normally smirking or confident face of Edea Lee. She was blushing. Rosy cheeks and a shy smile were what greeted the group, like a schoolgirl with a crush on the new boy in class. Shocked and stunned, the group could only stare at her with jaws dropped and eyes widened. Giggling, she asked, "What's wrong, guys?"

"N-nothing, just… I thought… Well I… Aren't you mad at me? I accidently kissed you." Tiz spluttered. Edea suddenly walked closer to Tiz, a predatory grin on her face. Tiz flinched away, expecting a nasty punch.

"Why would I get mad? I just suddenly realized that you're really cute." Edea wrapped her arms around him. Tiz's eyes practically began bulging out of his head. Edea attempted to kiss Tiz's face, but Tiz struggled to get out of her arms, saying,

"E-Edea! W-what are you doing?" Tiz was beet red, trying to push the enthusiastic blonde away.

"What does it look like, silllly?" Edea slurred, "I just want some more…" A lecherous grin was painted on her face. She planted a kiss on Tiz's cheek, who was looking like a cherry tomato by this point. "Aww, how cute! You're acting like you've never been kissed by a girl before."

"Edea! What has gotten into you?" Agnes asked. "Your behavior is… is… unacceptable!" Agnes had tried to remain calm, but she could bear the sight no longer.

"Aww, don't get your panties in a knot, Agnes… Or are you jealous? Edea smirked as an embarrassed look crossed Agnes' face. "Well, he's mine, now…"

"What?" Tiz and Agnes both yelled simultaneously. Tiz struggled violently, but the Templar was simply too strong.

_How is she so strong?_ Tiz thought despairingly.

Struggling to regain her composure, Agnes asked, "Why would I be jealous?" _Why do I care so much? I'm not jealous, I just… can't bear to see her acting so much like… like… like a sleazy floozy!_

_Hmm…_ Ringabel put a hand to his chin. _What could be causing her to act so strangely? The slurred speech, the over-eagerness… Wait! This is exactly like that time with the Red Mage!_ "I got it! Tiz, when you kissed her in your confused state, you must have cast charm on accident!" Instantly, Agnes lifted her staff, and practically screamed,

"ESUNA!" The white light washed over Edea, who blinked when it was done. She noticed that she was basically strangling Tiz with a hug, and that her face was but a few inches away from his own, oddly red face. Eyes widening and cheeks burning, she dropped him, yet again, and backed off, trying to remember what just happened.

"Did I just… was I about to… What the Crystals happened?" Edea was shrieking by this point, as what had happened was slowly registering.

"Well…" Ringabel glanced at his companions. Tiz was lying on the floor face-down. Agnes was sitting on the floor, arms around her knees, which were up against her chest. Edea had a mortified look on her face, horror entering her eyes. "… I believe it would be best for us to leave Lord DeRosso's castle, first. In this state, a party of monsters could easily overtake us. Agnes, my dear, if you would…"

"Teleport!" She was three steps ahead of him. The group warped outside of the castle, at the entrance. Airy was outside, and as expected, the cryst-fairy was angry. She was about to start complaining when she noticed expressions of varying degrees of misery on each of their faces. Agnes looked irritated, Tiz looked dazed, Edea had her hands over her face, and Ringabel was rubbing his shoulder.

"What happened to you four?" The response was a collective groan that signaled that the party would be better off answer the question in Grandship, with a hot meal at the Drunken Pig.

**Hello, Heat here. For some odd reason my browser makes all text italicized, therefore making everything a lot more difficult to tell; I have no idea whether or not the thoughts are in italics like I wanted them to be.**


End file.
